Computer programs are developed on various development tools. For example, many software developers use interactive (or integrated) development environments (IDEs) in order to develop software. The developers use an IDE in order to develop models of types within a computer system, and in order to customize those models.
An exemplary interactive development environment includes a plurality of different tools so that developers can develop and test the code that needs to be developed and in order to customize a computer system as desired. By way of example, an IDE may include a source code editor, one or more build automation tools and a debugger that allow computer programmers to develop software. Some IDEs illustratively include a compiler, an interpreter, or both. They may include a version control system and various tools to simplify the construction of graphical user interfaces. They can also include a class browser, an object browser, and a class hierarchy diagram for use with object oriented software development. Thus, developers can use IDEs to generate the code and metadata, along with customizations to code and metadata, which may be utilized in developing a system for use in a given organization. For example, a developer can work with source code and metadata files which relate to application elements. One application can require creating or changing both metadata and code that consumes the metadata in various ways.
In generating or customizing software using an IDE, the application developer models specific concepts (which may be represented as types) within an application and, where necessary, writes code. Large applications, for which developers often use IDEs, can include thousands of different types.
By way of example, some computer systems include business systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer relations management (CRM) systems, line-of-business (LOB) systems, among others. These types of computer systems often have many thousands of different types that are modeled and customized. By way of example, some such business systems often have thousands of different forms, alone, not to mention many other types.
Business systems are not the only types of computer systems that have a large number of types. For instance, gaming systems, or a wide variety of other types of systems, often also have many thousands of different types that are modeled in the software system.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.